I’m often trying to find practical uses for 3D printing, but it wasn’t until I started planning our summer camping trip that I found how useful having a 3D printer could be!

Starting with my favorite print: This is an extension for a kayak paddle. It is a handle for the paddle, giving something larger to hang on to while out on the water! Just slip the kayak paddle in and bolt the two parts together around it!

Kayak handle for a kayak paddle! Just slip the kayak paddle in and bolt the two parts together around it!

Next up is a chair foot replacement! You know those folding camping chairs and how sometimes the stupid feet break on them. I used to just cope with sitting in an unbalanced chair and make jokes about being unbalanced! Now you can just print a replacement foot. Remove the old hardware from the broken foot, replace with this handy 3D printed foot, and you’re good to go! They make them for the front feet as well as the back!

Folding camping chair replacement foot! Just remove the old hardware from your broken chair foot and replace with the new 3D printed one!

This next one is a cool little rope tightener. I apologize for everything being in black, I didn’t really feel like swapping out filament for each print. 😉 ‘nGen” filament is made by ColorFabb!

Camping Rope TightenerCamping Rope Tightener

Last up is a tent pole cap! Sometimes the peak of the tent needs a little reinforcement or support! This cool little print while made of black nGen could be made of a more flexible filament like NinjaFlex , SemiFlex, or even PCTPE. NinjaFlex is a flexible filament and a favorite of mine. The SemiFlex is also flexible like the NinjaFlex, but has some extra firmness. The PCTPE is a flexible and dyeable nylon so you could customize that to your liking. For what it is worth, nGen comes in a variety of colors as do most of our filaments. I’ll spare everyone my need to print in pink ABS.. this time! 🙂